Keiffith

For me, living car free is a way to remove a financial burden that will get in the way of my life goals I have at the moment.

I love cars as a hobby, and still plan to own a classic diesel benz, but drives will be for recreation and when it's logical, otherwise I'll ride a bicycle, or if it's a long trip, my motorcycle.

This is a lifestyle choice that doesn't have a right or wrong way of doing it. The idea is to share your experience with others so they might see the benefits, not just for them, but the people around them of not using a cage as your primary means of transportation

cooker

This thread is about living car-free, or preferring to use alternate forms of transportation (like public transit) "whenever possible". Is it not fair to assume people posting repeatedly in the thread such as yourself and prj71 are interested in the topic?

cooker

You said you weren't using it "by choice" but you do have a choice. There is no law saying you must take the mode reimbursed by your company. Do you always write with company pens or do you sometimes use your own pen? Do you have a company phone or do you use your own phone for some business calls? Do you sometimes do company work on your home computer or laptop?

I-Like-To-Bike

Of course. And such interest does not mandate agreeing with your (or anybody else's) unique and often over-the-top opinions about what is required "thinking" for someone to be considered positive about Living Car Free. Nor does having such a preference or use of alternate forms of transportation require closing our eyes, nose and minds to the reality that we live in. Having such an interest does not require making pretend that sacrifice, impracticality unpleasantness and inconvenience are inconsequential factors to ignore in order to convince ourselves that dependence on public transit, bicycling and/or walking and an associated return to an ascetic, minimalist lifestyle is the "solution" for the North American population to adapt.

prj71

Sure I do. but why spend my own money for something I'm not going to get reimbursed for? That's not very logical.

The company I work for provides all the pens, tape measures, calipers and other equipment I need to work.

I do not have a company phone. I don't use my own phone for business calls.

Never. As soon as I walk out the door at the end of the day, nothing work related is going on. That's "me" time.

cooker

LOL. Where did I say all that stuff?

Walter S

Cooker did his part. If you're concerned about pavement phobia's etc. then maybe YOU should help.

I-Like-To-Bike

The only help that someone with pavement phobia will accept is complete agreement that his phobia about pavement is not a phobia at all, but rather is the only acceptable viewpoint to hold on the subject. Someone with this phobia cannot be "helped", because of his belief that only he knows the real truth and any disagreement is misguided if not evil.

cooker

Lots of people on business travel pay their own money to upgrade on stuff the company reimburses or funds at the economy rate. I guess it wasn't important enough to you to do so. Or perhaps you realized in those cities hiring a car may not actually work as well as the public transit, and you might as well go with it.

50PlusCycling

I notice this pattern, which seems to be unintentional, where driving becomes a way of separating people for elite privileges. In your case it seems to be about attending PTA meetings in a relatively elite school in order to have your kids transcend the local opportunities for higher education, but for others in other places it might be about taking a higher paying job or a job that is hoped to be a gateway to greater opportunity available to a more elite subset of the population.

"Elite" and "privilege" are misunderstood terms. I see "privilege" as something which is earned, not given. Driving is a privilege because one must meet standards, and pass two tests to earn that privilege. Seen from this perspective, I want my kids to be as privileged as possible, but I expect them to earn those privileges.

In Japan, there is something called "The way of successive generations," in which each generation works hard to improve the quality of life for the next generation. When you work hard for yourself and your family, your work benefits society by providing the goods and services which society needs and/or wants. Being able to put your children on a higher rung when they begin their working lives should allow them to have more for themselves,and provide their children with still-better lives. To many people in Japan, this is seen as a duty, and is why they focus so much on the education of their children.

I never apply the word "elite" to people, though I do apply it to organizations. There elite levels in sports, in the military, or in business, but working at these levels does not make you personally "elite." There are "elite" schools, but there are not "elite" students, regardless of how they or others style them.

This is a hard issue for me, because I don't see anything wrong with people working hard to achieve something exceptional, but it bothers me when LCF becomes the sacrifice you have to make to strive. This is because in my analysis of how to best progress in terms of sustainability, environmental and economic, LCF is in itself something to strive for and achieve, and the more people do it, the less cars and pavement are usurping the natural ecology and future potential for human civilization.

Human civilization is, like all things natural, temporary. 99.9% of all life which has ever existed on earth is extinct. If humanity were to disappear today, in a thousand years most cities would be nearly fully consumed by nature, in 10,000 years there would be little trace left. In a million years (less than a minute on the world's clock, and a fraction of a second on the universal clock), no trace would remain. Man is part of the natural ecology, and everything man takes from the earth to make roads, buildings, cars, or energy, eventually returns to the source from which it came.

There is only one way to make the world a better place, and that is to make yourself a better person. The more you personally learn, the more you personally create, the more you contribute to society. By doing less, you become less. There is nothing worse than failing to realize or live up to the potential you were born with. Anyone is capable of doing almost anything, provided they make the effort. It's not hard to be "exceptional," particularly when you look at the common standards of today, which is because too many people don't bother.

Machka 

Discuss your lifestyle here ... your own personal lifestyle.

Not the perceived lifestyles of those you see, of those you envy, of those you look down on.

Your lifestyle.

You.

tandempower

LCF is only ascetic from the POV that a car is a luxury. From another POV, car ownership is a burden and the payments and extra effort you have to make to own a car is a sacrifice. Turning sacrifice and burden into something people ignore in order to look at the bright side is what marketing is about. No one is depicted paying their insurance bill or sitting waiting for an oil change or new tires in car commercials. You could say that sitting waiting for car maintenance is a form of meditation, though, maybe. Certainly dealing with car dealerships is a sacrifice in more than one way, since they are taking both time and money as well as greasing you into longer contracts so they can trade a piece of your future for money elsewhere.

Machka 

Is this about you? About your lifestyle?

tandempower

Yes, those are reasons I avoid car ownership. And I see the asceticism and sacrifice of both LCF and car-ownership, though I think that of LCF is better because it keeps you healthier and its better for the environment; whereas the sacrifices of car-ownership include a lot more sacrifice of the environment and time, money, etc. I think it is dishonest to pretend LCF involves sacrifice while denying that car-ownership, driving, and sprawl do as well. And you shouldn't pretend that all sacrifices are equal. Sacrificing extra time to bike to work is good for your health while sacrificing extra time sitting waiting for car maintenance or working to pay car expenses is just unnecessary and has no health benefit. You can maybe say it's a form of meditation that improves your patience and ability to deal with stress, but you can achieve that same effect by just sitting on a meditation pillow and meditation pillows don't cause more pavement, sprawl, and other environmental-resource waste.

Machka 

Tell us more about your lifestyle.

Do you prefer to use alternative transportation (bicycles, walking, other human-powered or public transportation) for everyday activities whenever possible?

What do you, personally, use?

tandempower

I walk when I have time and bike when I need or want to save time. To some extent I like sprawl because it gives me further to walk. I notice that many of the new-urban kids don't really go beyond the narrow confines of the reformed downtown area and the MUPs. I like the MUPs too, but I'm glad there are sidewalks and bike-lanes beyond the reformed zones because I like walking and biking there too. The main reason I dislike sprawl is because it seems to deter most people from shifting away from driving, and a lot of environmental and social-economic good would result from less driving and pavement overall.

Rollfast

I hate being put out of work...

elfmachine

I cycle to job everyday. It's just so useful when my job and home are between old town making bus and car travel harder. I rided bicycle during winter with winter tyres but I was really hard and cold thing to do since Lithuanian climate is can be very cold That's why I want to get hybrid car. But in summer I enjoy it

Kabuki12

My wife and I gave up driving for about 2 years in the early eighties. We live in southern California and we were young(er) so it wasn't really a big deal.Rain was challenging but not impossible. I worked in a huge aerospace shop and she was a bank teller so she definitely had it tougher. She had to get to work and then change into her teller clothes.Also we lived on a sail boat in the harbor so the bikes needed cleaning and lube frequently. We both loved it and we still ride bikes. I do drive a car and enjoy cycling as a hobby(2-3 times a week) . For two years I rode a lot , maybe 20 or more miles a day and even more on the weekends. Now maybe 30-40 miles a week , but soon a lot more as I ease into a reduced work load.(I am now 64). Joe

Happy Feet

I have lived car free, car light and car heavy at varying periods of my life and hope to change again as time goes by. For me it is partly making a choice and partly accepting practicality. I would describe myself as fairly athletic with an interest in long distance sports. I often have used cycling and running for training purposes and am comfortable looking sweaty with disheveled hair and wearing fleece or lycra.

In Calgary, which has pretty good cycling infrastructure, I lived car free, commuting about 45 minutes each way to work. For a time I worked as a bike courier as well. That was both single and in a relationship with one child up to the age of kindergarten. We shopped and traveled using a kids wagon fairly easily. When we needed a car I rented one.

In Abbotsford, a rural/suburban setting, distances are more spread out so we eventually became car light. Even still I cycle commuted to college for two years (1.5 hours each way) and to work often after that. Eventually, with three kids, trailers didn't work at all and we became a minivan family. I love my minivan! This worked for the many things kids and parents need to do and I don't regret that decision at all. One of those things that a car allowed was being a scout leader for 7 years which I think was a good community service. I became self employed during that time and turned car heavy as I serviced an area spanning 100km's so we became a two car family. During this time I also returned to college, which was too far to cycle commute to as well.

Currently, we are a two car family but that is a minivan for utility and a small compact car for my wife to commute with and in reality, one vehicle usually stays at home. We could lose one but it's hard to decide which as the small car is cheap on gas but the minivan is very convenient for lots of people and hauling "stuff". I now cycle commute to work again and even bicycle at work facilitating a therapeutic program for seniors but use my minivan for various weekend activities. I am heavily into scuba diving (as well as cycling) and often need to lug gear to and from dive sites or drive to destinations from which I cycle long distance. One could say diving as an activity is very car heavy but it has also opened 70% of the planet up to me and my understanding and appreciation of the natural world has been enhanced by it. Through diving I was able to do a 5 year research project at a local lake studying a species at risk, identifying habit concerns and in situ behaviors. We also recorded the first images of that fish in its natural habitat. Diving also sparked an interest in storytelling through filmmaking and photography and I often learn by osmosis (pun intended) from assisting underwater photographers.

For the future, I am formulating a 3-5 year plan with my wife to downsize and move to a setting more in tune with some lifestyle goals we have had for a long time. We chose our current home based on walking access to all three schools (primary, middle, high) but it doesn't really reflect our ideals as far as living smaller and simply. The kids are finished that now and I hope to build a smaller, more energy efficient home using some old and new technologies I have studied. Part of that plan will be spending a lot of time selecting a location that allows easier bicycle access/commutes though an e bike may have to become part of that plan if I want my wife to participate, depending on distances. We will probably become a one car family again, as my wife does not share the same level of enjoyment for cycling that I do and I honestly like being able to haul gear or go places when I want. Rather than adhere to a rigid doctrine I believe one needs to be flexible while looking for ways to live in accordance to ones ideals. Often reduce is more practical than eliminate.

A lifestyle should make one feel happy and if one is constantly angry at themselves or others for falling short or feeling constrained or denied then that probably isn't the lifestyle for you/me. I have wished or wanted to be more one way or the other over the years but on the whole can't complain either. We've educated ourselves, been self supporting, taken on challenges, served the community and raised and educated three kids. As the "cycle" slows down again I hope I can detach more from outer commitments and focus on some of those other personal/intrinsic goals.

Rowan

I know this sounds a bit of a trying question, but are you still in or near Abbotsford? I ask because it is a place I know a little well because Machka's grandmother used to live there. We have cycled in various parts of Abbotsford, as well as closer to the border with the US. Parents-in-law are little further east in Chilliwack, along with grand mother now she has moved.

Really love your postings on touring around parts of Canada. I should also point that we do spend a far bit of time car-free when visiting, either cycling or walking. I lived in Canada for six months (in Alberta) with Machka and her folks, and spent a bit of time driving the car we owned moving about. But that was back in 2006 (before we married)...And it still remains one of my great life experiences.

Happy Feet

Yes, still in Abbotsford.
My usual rides are loops either west to Fort Langley on 0 ave and across the river back through Mission, east via Mission to either Harrison Lake or Hope and back or a meandering route over Sumas Mountain and east to Yarrow and through the Sumas Prairie. It has developed since 2006 but still remains a great place for cycling.

As to the point of living car light. While biking is great locally, I am glad I am not restricted to only that. Within a one hour drive things really get better. West takes you to the Sea to Sky Hwy which runs 100km's north from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler (a 200Km out and back rando permanent) and 1 hour east takes you to Hope, with three mountain gateways (Fraser Canyon, Coquihalla, Manning Park). An hour southwest takes you to the Gulf Island ferries and straight south from Abbotsford across the US border gets you either up and down Mt. Baker (100miles) or a long days ride to the San Juan or Olympic Peninsula ferries.



Ps. Glad you are back posting